Before and After Expenditures Figures from Kristian Pedersen

Naomi Robbins
, ContributorI help people communicate data clearly with graphs.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Kristian Pedersen also submitted a revised graph in response to my offer in Visualizing the Table of the Graph Makeover Contest. I had said, “I’d be happy to post before and after figures if any of you want to redo your entries with the suggestions that the other reviewers and I made.” Figure 1 shows Kristian’s original figure and Figure 2 the redrawn one.

Figure 1. Source: Kristian Pedersen Click to enlarge

Figure 2. Source: Kristian Pedersen Click to enlarge

In Figure 2, Kristian made more room for the graphs by using two line category labels. I find the data values in Figure 1 to be very distracting. I much prefer the pale gridlines of Figure 2. If exact numbers are needed then the table can be included as well. His redrawing the figure shows that small changes can make a big difference.

Note that the third column shows the change in the share of expenditures. These figures do not show the large percent change of healthcare insurance expenditures that some of the other entries emphasized.